Mardi Gras Fun (Run)

As expected, after my much-needed rest, I was quite willing and able to greet the freezing cold day today. We added on a little extra time to our sleeping, because we were getting to bed so late, and we showed up at the run just before it was supposed to start – only two minutes before packet pick up was scheduled to end, and 17 minutes before the run was to start.

And it was a blast. There were not very many people there – perhaps around 50, and just as many people who did not show up, probably because of the cold. However, that added significantly to the charm of the event and the experience. It made it feel even more like a close-knit family fun event, even though we didn’t know anybody else there. (Although, as it turned out, we did know one of the photographers! I told him that I would love to do volunteer work with him on photography… We shall see what happens there. Fingers crossed!)

For what I believe was the first – and will quite possibly will be the only – Time in my life, I won first place in my age group. That was really exciting. My mom got second place in her age group. I had told her that I had intended to run the whole thing, and not do it with her, mostly walking and running some. However, she somehow thought that I had changed my mind, and was going to stay with her the whole time. So, when it was my turn to start, and I took off running, she called out to me, with obvious slight annoyance at having been left behind. She wasn’t mad, but she was surprised, and it was actually rather funny. After I finished my 5K, though, as my cooldown, I went and joined her on the course, and I finished her 5K with her. So, we got to spend extra time together on the 5K after all.

After the little awards ceremony, we went back to our little motel and took extremely hot and awesome showers, bundled all up again in clean clothes, and headed out to attend the local Mardi Gras parade. It, too, was a total blast, with close-knit family vibes. I also believe that we each got more beads than we have ever gotten at any Mardi Gras event we have ever attended. We were at the very beginning of the parade, all on our own except for one woman and the emergency workers who were waiting for the end of the parade. We were the first attendees that anybody on a float was getting to see after pulling out onto the road, so just about everyone, with extreme excitement, threw an unnecessary number of beads our way. And it was only a 30-minute parade… from the very first vehicle to the very last, it was only 29 minutes. Then, because we had gone all the way to the start, we were able to leave immediately, and not wait for the parade to reach its end destination. So, we headed to the ferry to go across to Galveston Island, and had breakfast at a spot that we like. (We had a bit of a double-take upon arrival to the restaurant, because there was a whole slew of Mardi-Gras-decorated jeeps, just like had been in the parade on Bolivar. Turns out it was a group doing a Mardi Gras pub-crawl-type-thing with all of their decorated jeeps.)

Then we headed home, I did some preparation for our intense freeze that is coming tomorrow night onward, I went to work, I got to go home early from work, I did a little more preparation for the freeze, and now I am about to pass out hard core. It was a wonderful day, I reached my ideal step goal for a day, I had a great time with my mom, and I am super grateful that my bedroom is warm enough for me to sleep in it tonight. We shall see what happens tomorrow, though. Fingers super crossed that all goes well around that.

Post-a-day 2021

^ It wasn’t too bad this time. I mostly remembered.

Beyond bedtime

Stressed, worried, exhausted. My mom’s energy and enthusiasm for discussing continuously unnecessary details long before they are relevant hasn’t helped. Also, she keeps talking to me, which is the only reason I’m still not in bed, sleeping, despite my efforts to finish my tasks and go to bed over the past THREE AND A HALF hours… I did not finish all my reading scheduled for the day, despite having the time. We did not play a card game with my Vietnamese playing cards. She just kept doing stuff that felt far too irrelevant for the time, yet kept me from accomplishing what I wanted to accomplish.

I know she’s excited and into it all. But I couldn’t not have been in clearer communication about my exhaustion and my intentions for this evening. So, it’s a bit extra frustrating.

Right now, I just want to sleep and then go home whenever I get up. I hope I enjoy the run instead, and then go home. But I’m worried she won’t want to leave, when I’ll be beyond ready to go home… we shall see what happens. Perhaps I will feel much better by morning.

Post-a-day 2021

^ Barely got it… also, happy lunar new year!

Wow

Well, I made it through the rest of the magazines and notebooks and journals tonight, but that was after doing the papers. Somehow, I just had been thinking about and stressing about the papers all day long, I felt I needed to do them first, I guess. I kind of forgot about the magazines and notebooks until I had started piling the papers. At that point, my mind was super-charged in paper-piling mode, and it seemed harder to stop than to put magazines and journals after the papers. I was pretty sure that I was keeping all the magazines and journals, anyway.

Nonetheless, I did them all. Woohoo! I’m still stressed, because I have a lot happening in the next 48 hours. However, I’m doing loads better. I’m getting to bed a solid hour after I had intended, and that’s okay. I wanted to get this stuff done today, and I did it(!). Plus, the gym owner said for me to rest from working out tomorrow, and just do a 1-mile easy walk instead, in preparation for the 5k Saturday morning. I want to see how fast I can do the fun-run. I’m not-so-secretly hoping that I can win a medal for my age group. However, I’m not a super-runner these days, and there are lots of people who by almost default are super into running at their age, and those ages might be included in my age category – I don’t know how large the categories are, or where they are; just that they exist.

But anyway, I am feeling better about it all, now. I’m going to go stretch and ready quickly, and get myself to sleep asap, now. We’ll see what time I awaken in the morning – if I wake naturally around 4:30, as usual, or if I snooze hard core until my alarm that is set for 6:15 (enough time to get to school before traffic, and then to walk the big parking lot there before school starts).

Anyway, goodnight folks! And happy lunar new year eve!!! 😀

Post-a-day 2021

Last post in the year of the rat ;D

Not even thirty… and yet

Man, is it way past the bedtime I wanted for tonight. It is about to be ten pm.

And how ridiculous does that sound? Haha I have learned that my body likes getting up early; it also, however, likes going to bed early. It still can stay up quite late, and rather effectively so. However, it really, really likes to shower and get into pjs around 7pm, give or take a bit, and do my stretches and reading and writing by around 8pm, so I can turn off the lights and go to bed at 9pm. Is that not ridiculous?

Indeed, it is ridiculous. But it is what’s so, so I’m rolling with it!

At that, goodnight, folks! 😉

Post-a-day 2021

^Got it, with only a touch of hesitation!

Whew

Well, today definitely had a lot of stress in it for me. I had a wonderful morning that included a workout, an awesome coffee smoothie, great breakfast and a wonderful walk with my dad, and misty weather. But a lot of my tidying work today weighed on me. I kept having to re-center myself and have myself stay present to the task at hand, and not get overwhelmed by how much more there still is to do. I had to do that over and over and over again today, I was getting so nervous and stressed. I think it was a bit of a shock, when I realized that today is already the ninth of the month. I want to have all of this done by my birthday at the end of the month. However, I intend to stay at a beach house not here beginning on the Tuesday before my birthday, the 23rd. So, that means that today’s having been the ninth of the month is significantly more significant than it would have been if I were going to be home that whole week. So, that kept getting to me today.

However, I got everything folded and put in temporary location storage, except for my few jackets that need to be folded. I put my shoes away, and they look amazing. I have some reading from the secondary book to do tomorrow morning, as I move into the book category of tidying. (I know, that seems an odd sentence, but it is accurate! Haha)

I am a little nervous about the book category, because of my Japanese books… I haven’t gone through them since moving back from Japan, and I’m nervous to let any of them go…, But, after having read from the main book for the tidying tonight, I feel much more confident about it, and I believe I will be comfortable letting some of them go.

Only tomorrow shall tell, though! Fingers crossed!

Post-a-day 2021

^Phew! Just barely!

Dumbassery…?

Have you ever had trouble letting go of something, but haven’t been able to figure out why?

Whenever something bothers me, at some point, I really look to see why it bothers me, and then what I need to do about it either to handle the situation or to let it go / have it no longer bother me.

Something happened this evening at my part-time job that my mind cannot seem to settle about. It feels like I am bothered because I wasn’t trusted, and I was invalidated. Also, I was genuinely correct in my statement of what was the accurate thing to do – of course I verified afterward with the right person, and so I know that I had been accurate. And yet, due to something in how the people with me in the shop took on the situation really bothers me. When I initially mentioned my concern and solution to one person, a superior who is newer, all went well. She wasn’t sure on timing blah-blah-blah, but she accepted easily my reasoning. However, the person who had done the initially incorrect thing that had caused the issue in the first place, came to me later, while I was helping someone, nonetheless, and told me her reasoning for her actions, and also told me that I needed to do the original task – the one that couldn’t be done in the first place. I told her of the reason the task couldn’t be done, and she quickly gave a “solution” for me to do, and walked away before I could finish responding.

I think that’s it – not only did she tell me what to do (yes, we are equals in the store), but she didn’t even stop to hear what I had to say. She was right, and no one else was worth listening to – we weren’t worth her time. That’s what hurt the most; much more than the fact that she was the one who didn’t stop to consider what would be holistically best, and act accordingly, thereby causing the whole issue.

Also, it really pissed me off when people are stupid. And she had acted stupidly. Use your brain, dude. And she hadn’t. Instead, she had acted without wisdom for the act, and then had caused a problem, then made it someone else’s problem to manage, and didn’t even stop to hear what that person was trying to communicate with her.

What’s ironic is that I wasn’t even expecting her to do any further work for the problem. I was going to do it myself. Yet she was acting as though I were forcing her to do more work (although, she had already done more work by doing what had caused the problem in the first place).

Ugh! It just pissed me off when people are stupid and then righteous about their stupidass-ness!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha

I am genuinely laughing right now, and I feel much better. I think that was the real issue I had here. I had to deal with more work and being disrespected and ignored, and someone’s sassiness, all because of one person’s stupidass-ness and defensive righteousness afterward.

Ugh(!).

I hate stupid people. Go back to school, please, and learn to be a worthy contribution to society. These aren’t the Hunger Games*, folks. Use your brain, not your ego.

And yes, I know there is definitely some ego in this for me – like I said, I was hurt that I was distrusted and all that jazz. And it is difficult for me to love people who do not, in my opinion, act as true people. Our lowest selves, stupidity combined with righteousness, are not easy for me to love right now. I work as a teacher and specifically help students become aware of this state, and to grow out of it. They are willing to listen and to learn, and they develop spectacularly. When I meet adults – I use the term loosely – who never grew out of that, and who are unwilling even to consider that they are even in that, it is very difficult for me. I evaluate so much of my life so much of the time, it is hard for me to be around people who aren’t working to be their best and highest selves in life.

But, as I kept reminding myself this evening, over and over again, Marianne Williamson has a big part of the right of it. By letting our own light shine, we unconsciously allow others to do the same. By being my best and highest self possible, I am encouraging and empowering others, without their knowing, to be their best selves. And acting out in any way negatively does not help that. I certainly had to catch myself several times with that tonight, but I always did rather quickly, and I rebalanced and resettled myself. I am grateful for that success, despite all the rest having been utter nonsense and stupidity.

Haha 😛

*For those who don’t know, the reference is used to suggest that people do not watch for sport other people fight one another to be the last one standing. Aka we aren’t a society that puts value on having people to sacrifice to The Games.

Post-a-day 2021

^Got it!

Sunday, Fun?day

Today was very long. I tutored twice, which was great, but, other than that, all I did was work on the tidying. I put a few things online for sale, and gave myself a time limit for when they needed to be sold (otherwise I will be giving them away). Beyond that, it was just the tidying. I have another three or four or five bags that were added to the donation gathering on the second floor landing. And those are standard kitchen trash bags, filled with folded clothing and shoes.

The categories today were harder for me Dash I couldn’t just look at them and be clear on what spark joy and what didn’t. But, by following the initial guidelines she gave, and picking my top three within three minutes first, figuring out what sparks joy within the category suddenly became very easy. I got rid of a lot of stuff I didn’t expect I would get rid of. I also kept more than I expected to keep, especially in shoes and scarves. When I think about it, it seems that I actually do wear a lot of different shoes. I know I wear a lot of different scarves. So, those two categories makes sense that I would have kept a lot. I have already put a lot of love and effort into them, if I am using them so often.

***Note: I might be somewhat babbling right now… I am very tired mentally, and also somewhat sleepy, so my thinking is coming slowly right now… i’m not even typing this… I’m using the dictation feature on my phone, I’m so tired, and, also, my eyes are not focusing well enough.***

I’m so tired, I’m not even able to keep myself sitting fully upright, and even the idea of going to the gym at all tomorrow sounds exhausting. And I’m not even thinking about the fact that I’m very likely to go to the early workout… Yikes. Haha

Anyway, I had an idea earlier in the evening that I wanted to play my drum tonight, so I’m going to go do that. Sweet dreams, everyone.

Post-a-day 2021

^!!!

Yikes, it’s cold

Whatever it is cold out, I find that the day always feels harder and longer by the end of it. I guess, since the sun never fully comes out, it feels like it has been the same part of the day all day long, giving it the sense of some thing that is typically only a few hours lasting the entire day. Or something like that.

I did not accomplish everything today that I had said I would accomplish or what I had wanted to accomplish regarding tidying.

I did have a private French lesson; go work out, even though I didn’t feel like it; hang out with my mom; give her two dessert crêpes from Sweet Paris (only $5.25 total, including tip) for World Nutella Day; set up successfully and use the new printer – yay!; tutor French; and have three different smoothies today.

A lot came up, both in tidying and outside of it, today. It was a very good day, but there was a lot of emotion, leaving me extra tired right now. It is late, and I have to get up very early for work tomorrow, and be on the road by 6:30 AM. I know that it would be very bad for me to aim to make decisions about things that bring me joy right now, in my current exhausted state. So, I’m going to bed. I have an updated list of what I will do tomorrow for the tidying. I am cautiously and reasonably optimistic for it.

Also, one portion of it totally frightens me, and I think that factored in today. So, perhaps that is something I need to have be high on my list tomorrow, so it cannot take up any more of my time, concerning me.

Post-a-day 2021

^Yay!

Clothes tidying

Wow! So much happened today with tidying up. I’ve finished going through all of my tops – shirts, sweaters, jackets, sweatshirts, etc. – and bottoms – pants, shorts, leggings, skirts; and all of my dresses and skirts. It turns out that I really like wearing light blue… and I mean really like wearing it. Probably because of my eyes, I feel amazing every time I see myself in a mirror with medium and light blue clothing. It also turns out that a massive portion of my clothing is athleticwear… maybe about a quarter of it. And that is in terms of physical space. If we counted actual items, I probably have almost as many pieces in athleticwear as I have in shirts, bottoms, sweaters, and jackets combined.

To be fair, though, I do exercise a lot, and go do athletic-y things a lot.

Anyway, there are a handful of trash bags with clothes to be donated downstairs now. Perhaps there were five of them? And that’s folded clothing, not just heaped in in a messy pile…

I still have my Indian outfits and all the small things – belts, scarves, socks, etc. – to do tomorrow. If I can get through all of them, though, I’ll be finished with sorting the clothing category. And that would be super exciting. 😀

I would like to make hat happen tomorrow. However, I also have two tutoring sessions, maybe three, and one needs a bit of extra prep before I go into it. I also want to make a quick trip to Ikea to check out a particular bedspread. I have my regular and my warm sheets now, so I want to be ready with the comforter/bedspread as soon as I get rid of the old sheets and move to the new ones I love. (Not sure yet where linens lie on the list of tidying.)

Anyway, I’m wiped – if that all weren’t already enough, my body is also menstruating, which always seems to take so much effort, even an easy day seems like I worked hard the whole time. I’ve a touch of a headache, so Imma drink some more water and get to sleep ASAP.

Goodnight, folks. 😉

Post-a-day 2021

^I didn’t mess it up this time 🙂